Former Arsenal defender Johan Djourou has jumped to the defence of his Switzerland teammate Granit Xhaka following the midfielder’s sending-off against Burnley at the weekend.
Xhaka, who signed for the Gunners from Borussia Monchengladbach for a rumoured £30m fee last summer, was given his marching orders following a two-footed tackle on Steven Defour.
Despite being down to 10 men, Arsene Wenger’s side managed to seal a late 2-1 victory, with Alexis Sanchez netting the winner from the penalty spot in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
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Xhaka is no stranger to seeing red, as he was sent off against Swansea City in October, and has actually received the most dismissals (5) than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues since the start of last season.
On Monday, the midfielder posted an Instagram picture of himself with friends at a restaurant, which gave some of his fellow users a platform to criticise.
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One asked Djourou to tell Xhaka to leave Arsenal, to which the defender, who now plays for Hamburg, replied:
“Why should I do that? He got a red card again, yeah okay! We won at the end, that’s most important! And let me tell you, Granit gives everything for the Arsenal shirt and that’s his style of play so don’t be too hard on him! He plays with passion. He will learn!!”
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